Loaches

[chrismr]

It will not be much longer before my clown loaches need to move on to a bigger home, and loving loaches as much as I do I would like to get another smaller kind to go in my tank.

I have chain loaches, zebra loaches and khuli loaches in other tanks so would want something different...

This would need to be a loach that typically gets no larger than 4 inches.

My firsts choice would be botia lohachata (pakistani loach) or botia angelicus (polkadot).

polkadots might be a little expensive though at £5, but might be worth it. I have always liked lohachata, but am always hearing differing opinions on how aggressive they are.

botia morleti (skunks) are nice, but sound a little aggressive. Still not sure about them...

what other loaches are there that are usually readily available (hopefully in the uk) that are smallish?

 

[piper]

Have you tryed posting in the Cyprinids, Characins and Atherinids section

 

[chrismr]

Good idea... but how do I move it now?

 

[The-Wolf]

This would need to be a loach that typically gets no larger than 4 inches.
My firsts choice would be botia lohachata (pakistani loach)

B.lohachata do not stay at 4" myself and a few other members have specamines reaching 8"

going on what your needs are I suggest B.rostrata aka B.geto
other than that look for sand loaches form the Schistura species.

 

[chrismr]

I have read on a couple of places that they do grow that large.... but most seem to say around 4".

Even one of the books I have at home does not list them at 8".

It is rather frustrating figuring out what to believe these days...

Yeah rostrata was another that caught my eye.

The Schistura look lovely, and from little info found sound perfect, but I have never seen any for sale anywhere before....

 

[Barracuda518]

How big of a tank are you going to get? Botia Angelicus are very nice. Botia dario is another good one. You might want to stay away from skunk loaches, as they tend to be quite aggressive. Another one I found that you need to avoid is the Botia beauforti. I got some of these and they got really aggressive and I had to take them back. You might want to PM a moderator and ask them to move this topic to the right section where it might get more responses.

Good Luck

 

[chrismr]

Botia dario is another one I get conflicting size estimates on. Some places list 2" while others list 8".

 

[mikev]

On Schistura Poculi vs Polka-Dot: they are actually very similar in terms of behavior and aggression. I've tried to point out some differences in the Schistura's description here:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=121883
I have both (and like both) but if I was forced to chose, I'd go with Polka-dots. They do have a nicer pattern, and you will see more of them.
(Schistura, btw is a large group, not one species; some of the species would require special tanks with currents.)

On aggression: both very "assertive" at the beginning but are no longer this way now that they feel safe. I would not risk mixing polka-dots with gouramis (mine felt too much interest in gouramis' fins...), but no other problems occurred.

On skunks: I'd certainly avoid them. I've seen the work of skunks when my lfs mixed them with barbs: within a few days all barbs had their fins damaged, and these were small skunks...

HTH

 

[chrismr]

On Schistura Poculi vs Polka-Dot: they are actually very similar in terms of behavior and aggression. I've tried to point out some differences in the Schistura's description here:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=121883
I have both (and like both) but if I was forced to chose, I'd go with Polka-dots. They do have a nicer pattern, and you will see more of them.
(Schistura, btw is a large group, not one species; some of the species would require special tanks with currents.)

On aggression: both very "assertive" at the beginning but are no longer this way now that they feel safe. I would not risk mixing polka-dots with gouramis (mine felt too much interest in gouramis' fins...), but no other problems occurred.

On skunks: I'd certainly avoid them. I've seen the work of skunks when my lfs mixed them with barbs: within a few days all barbs had their fins damaged, and these were small skunks...

HTH

Thanks for that. How large have your polka-dots grown, and how old are they?

 

[mikev]

Thanks for that. How large have your polka-dots grown, and how old are they?

Very welcome.

Mine are all young. The largest two (bought in July) were bought at about 1", are now slightly above 2" and growning slowly now. I've added four more 3 months ago; all were under 1" when bought. Right now one of them is nearly 2" (?!), two are about 1.3", and one is still under 1".

The fast growning 2" is the most entertaining fish... He started challenging the bigger polka-dots, and a week ago I've seen an amazing show of him running in circles with one of the leaders...he was almost totally white from the stress. Apparently, he lost, since after the competition he was hiding for two days, and now behaves much better... Another round is expected if he continues with his crazy growth.

As for the 1" one, I'm not too optimistic. He does not seem to eat much, and I have no idea what is wrong or what to do (probably nothing I can).

 

[mikev]

PS. If you really want Schistura and are in NY area, H2O aquarium has a few left. You can call them at 718 424 8823.